spoken by the prophets

2:23spoken by the prophets. No one prophet is mentioned here, but rather “the prophets” in general. As far as known, the despised town of Nazareth did not even exist in the days of the prophets, so it may be that this is a generic summary of the teaching of the prophets that the Messiah would be “despised and rejected of men” (Isaiah 53:3). Some have suggested Isaiah 11:1, where He is called a “rod” (Hebrew netzer) out of the “stem” (or, apparently dead stump) of Jesse’s family tree. However, see the note on Zephaniah 1:14, which, slightly modified, would yield a reading very closely akin to Matthew’s quote.